Former French international Willy Sagnol, who will be 44 in March, has been appointed Georgia coach, the Georgian Football Association said in a statement on Monday.
“The high quality of the exchanges with the Committee (of the federation) and the potential of the team convinced me to take on this incredible challenge,” confirmed Sagnol in a video posted on the Georgian team's Facebook page.
“With a lot of hard work, discipline and willpower, I am sure that together we will write a beautiful chapter in Georgian football history,” he added, speaking in English.
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From 2013, Sagnol successively coached the France U 20 team, then Espoirs, before joining the Girondins de Bordeaux (2014-2016), from which he was sacked after poor results in March 2016, in the midst of season.
In Aquitaine, remarks on the supposed characteristics of the African footballer, had triggered a controversy.
The former international right-back has not coached since 2017 and an interim that year at Bayern Munich.
He was also a consultant for the RMC group and kept a keen eye on amateur dating of the game.
As a player, he wore the colors of Saint-Etienne (1996-1997), Monaco (1997-2000) and Bayern Munich (2000-2008), played a key role in the course of the France team until 'in the final of the World Cup 2 006 (beaten on penalties by Italy), before hanging up the crampons in 2009, undermined by an Achilles tendon injury.
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Another former French international, Alain Giresse, has already been coach of Georgia, 89th in the last Fifa ranking, in 2004 and 2005.
